Truth Is Offensive

“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell

People don’t want to hear the truth. If you doubt this, try telling everyone the truth… and nothing else… for a week or more. You’ll find out very quickly that we’ve trained ourselves to expect lies when we ask certain questions. Sometimes, pure unadulterated truth can be hard to swallow.

Almost every single person knows deep down that lying is wrong, and yet we do it anyway. Why is this the case? Why are we so willing to tell and expect lies?

It’s because we have learned to value people’s opinions over the truth. And of course, when I say “opinions” I mean “their opinion of us.” We lie to our spouses because we don’t want them to think we’re insensitive. We lie to our friends because we’re afraid they’ll think we’re boring. We lie to ourselves because deep down, we know we’re wrong, and our egos won’t allow us to admit it.

We lie to get things we don’t think we could get otherwise. Money, power, favor, status, whatever. We want it, and we know we don’t deserve it, so we lie. There is so much suffering in the world, we want to assume people are always looking for ways to fix it. But the truth is, for the most part, we are not. We are selfish, bitter, and on the whole, unwilling to compromise, all so that we can get what we want. This, of course, leads to all sorts of problems. It is the condition of fallen man.

But overall, we know the fallen condition the world is in. The real question is, how are we supposed to act in a world where truth is considered hostile? How do we, as followers of Jesus Christ, apply that to our world and our lives?

 “Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell

As people who are devoted to serving the world, we are compelled to be truthful in all things. But the single condition behind it is this: Speak the truth in love.

Paul, in his letter to the church in Ephesus, explains it like this (emphasis mine):

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” – Ephesians 4:14-16

Our motivation should be based on love of others. As much as we’d like to be self-righteous and defensive, Paul says we must “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Eph. 4:31-32) Some people say this only applies to believers in the church, but how else are we going to reach the world, if not for love?

What happens when we do this is simple: if we remove our motives and selfishness from the equation, then all we’re left with is the words we speak. There is no need for us to get angry, forceful, defensive, or offensive. If the words are offensive, even if spoken without malice, that’s fine. People can accept truth or reject it. We shouldn’t allow our own egos to get in the way. Let the truth itself be offensive, not our actions or motives. Don’t poison the message with anger, contempt, and selfish agenda.

Sadly, a lot of people will still be offended. They don’t want to believe it, because of the reasons I outlined earlier. If they believe God exists, then they have to accept the ramifications of that. And that means they probably won’t get what they want.

Don’t let them reject the Gospel because of our shortcomings. Speak the truth in love.

But never stop speaking the truth.